The Skinny On Emerging Diseases
Don’t Rely On Dr. Google For Info
When there are new or re-emerging diseases, there is often a raft of information that hasn’t been well vetted in the media and on the Internet. Are you worried about Zika virus? Canine Influenza?
The news lately has been full of Zika virus. Here’s the nutshell summary from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “Zika is a disease caused by the Zika virus that is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. The most common symptom of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week. People don’t usually get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.”
With regards to pregnant women and birth defects, knowledge of the link between Zika and potential birth defects such as microcephaly is evolving but not proven at this time. Refer to the CDC’s travel website, http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information, for the most current information.
Zika is not a new virus. It is originally from tropical Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands and is now spreading to South and Central America. With increased travel and contact, it will spread wherever the mosquitos can survive. It is not time to panic, but just to remember good mosquito prevention – make sure that there are not water-holding places (tires, plastic boxes, etc.) that can allow mosquito breeding and use of mosquito repellants. No documented cases of Zika in animals have been noted.
Canine Influenza, also known as the dog flu, has also been recently in the news. Canine influenza is a contagious upper respiratory disease caused by specific type of influenza virus, Influenza A. It cannot infect humans, just as our human influenza viruses cannot infect dogs. That said influenza viruses are constantly changing and there may be a future jump. Just like pig and bird influenzas, canine influenza is closely monitored by the CDC and its partners.
There are two primary dog flu viruses, H3N8 and H3N2. H3N8 originated from horses, but mutated in 2004 to dogs and was “hot” for a several month window of time after it emerged, but calmed. There is a vaccination available against H3N8.
New to the United States is H3N2 which originated in dogs in South Korea in 2007. It was first reported in the US in the Chicago-area in April 2015. Currently, H3N2 has not spread across the country as H3N8 did. There is also a vaccination available for H3N2 as no cross-protection is offered by the H3N8 vaccination.
Vaccinations against Canine Influenza are not considered core and only should be considered if your pet’s lifestyle risks potential infection or if we see a true rise in the prevalence and occurrence of these diseases. Some boarding or doggie daycare facilities do require vaccination.
With any disease concerns, you can always ask your veterinarian for information. If they don’t know, they should pass you along to a reputable, reliable source instead of letting Dr. Google fill the gaps.
Dr. Margot can be reached at parkhillvet.com